Second Harvest opens expanded facility to feed and train thousands

Second Harvest Food Bank on Wednesday officially unveiled its new $15 million distribution center and headquarters — a 100,000-square-foot facility that will allow the Orlando nonprofit to feed twice as many people, promote better nutrition, launch a catering business, train the unemployed to work in the culinary field and put thousands more volunteers to work each year.

A crowd of nearly 500 representatives from government, business, philanthropy and human-service agencies attended the dedication of the new Morgan & Morgan, P.A., Hunger Relief Center, named for the personal-injury law firm of John and Ultima Morgan, who donated $2 million to the project. In a region where one out of every four children lives in a family struggling to put food on the table, the facility is seen as a big leap forward.

"This is beautiful," said Joan Faulkner, president and CEO of the nonprofit HOPE in Oviedo — one of 500 partner agencies that receive food from Second Harvest for hundreds of thousands of financially strapped Central Floridians. "There's going to be more food available for our families — and more fresh produce. We're already serving 300 families every week."

Last year, Second Harvest distributed 36 million pounds of groceries to those in need, but it had to turn away another 4 million pounds of donations for lack of storage space. Much of that food was highly nutritious fresh produce, meats and dairy products that needed refrigerator and freezer space the nonprofit didn't have in its previous home.

"A huge gap exists between people who have food and people who don't," said Dave Krepcho, the nonprofit agency's president and CEO. "When you think about one in four children in our community wondering about their next meal, when you think about senior citizens — we simply have to get more food out to them more quickly and efficiently."

The new facility, at the corner of Old Winter Garden Road and Mercy Drive in Orlando, has a 440-percent increase in refrigerated storage space and a 330 percent increase in freezer capacity, as well as more room for dry goods and large volunteer groups, and a community kitchen. It also features a large conference area and executive board room that can be rented out for meetings and an on-site catering business that can provide the food.

It will even host a volunteer's wedding there in July.

Starting April 1, it also will launch its first 16-week culinary-school course to teach a group of unemployed and under-employed Central Floridians not just a new line of work, but also the financial literacy and life skills needed to succeed in the current economy.

But perhaps the most poignant example of the facility's potential impact came from Judie Kellogg, a 54-year-old Sanford mother of two whose husband lost his job as a civil engineer in 2009. She and her family then lost their savings, their home and, she said, much of their pride before turning to Christian HELP, which receives food from Second Harvest.

When her husband returned with a box of fruit, vegetables, chicken and other groceries, Kellogg said, she cried in relief.

"You might never have a chance to meet all the people you've supported," she told the crowd, "but standing here today, I can say: 'You're making a difference.' "

The facility has been an anomaly among big public projects — 80 percent of the funds were raised before Second Harvest broke ground last May, and the completion came on time and within budget. Major donations came not only from Morgan & Morgan, but also from Darden, Walt Disney World, CNL, Dr. Phillips Charities, the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation and a long list of others.

"Without the phenomenal support from the Central Florida community, this new building would not have been possible," Krepcho said. "Hundreds of individuals and businesses made donations to the philanthropic campaign, and thanks to their generosity we built the new Hunger Relief Center in record time."